Dublin city centre fares poorly in litter study

Dublin city centre has been ranked the State’s worst “litter black spot” with four out of 53 areas surveyed categorised as litter black spots.

The four areas were Dublin city, Mallow, Leixlip and Finglas. The survey was carried out by the Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) alliance.
Despite its categorisation, Dublin city has seen a 15 per cent fall in its litter and cleanliness standards. Cavan Town was shown to be the State’s cleanest town.
Dublin was depicted very poorly with, for example, the Iveagh market in a “dreadful condition”.
Dr Tom Cavanagh, chairman of Ibal, stated there was a need for Dublin’s city manager to attend to the city’s national problem. This was because it was the centre of foreign investment.

Over half of the other areas were classed as litter-free. These included Galway and Waterford.
Navan, Co. Meath, which was shown to be the Republic’s most-litter clogged town in the same survey in May, has risen to 46th place in the rankings.
Minister of State for the Environment, Batt O’Keeffe said that altering people’s mindset could change the situation.

“We need to change the attitudes and behaviour of people who simply drop their litter on the street. Education and awareness-raising and the enforcement of the litter laws are very important in this regard,” he said.